When asteroid 2012 DA14 flies by Earth today, we could be watching a fortune fly over our heads and disappear into the void.

DA14 could be worth up to $195 billion in metals and propellant, Deep Space Industries (DSI) said in a statement — if it were in a different orbit … and if we had a space-based asteroid mining operation.

Which we don’t. Problem is, explains DSI, sending fuel, water, and building materials into high Earth orbit costs at least $10 million per ton, even using new lower-cost launch vehicles [like the SpaceX Dragon] just now coming into service.

“Getting these supplies to serve communications satellites and coming crewed missions to Mars from in-space sources like asteroids is key — if we are going to explore and settle space,” said Rick Tumlinson, Chairman of DSI. “While this week’s visitor isn’t going the right way for us to harvest it, there will be others that are, and we want to be ready when they arrive.”

According to DSI experts, if 2012 DA14 contains 5% recoverable water, that alone — in space as rocket fuel — might be worth as much as $65 billion. If 10% of its mass is easily recovered iron, nickel and other metals, that could be worth — in space as building material — an additional $130 billion.

Deep Space Industries plans to send small probes called FireFlies to examine asteroids and allow comparisons with readings taken by Earth and space based telescopes. They are to be followed by DragonFly sample return missions, to lay the groundwork for potential space mining operations in the 2020 time frame.

The extraterrestrial double whammy that Earth only partially avoided on Friday has triggered an immediate response from astronomers. Several have announced plans to create state-of-the-art detection systems to give warning of incoming asteroids and meteoroids. These include projects backed by Nasa as well as proposals put forward by private space contractors.

In each case, scientists want to develop techniques that can pinpoint relatively small but still potentially devastating meteoroids, comets and asteroids that threaten to strike Earth. These would give notice of impact of several days or possibly weeks and allow threatened areas to be evacuated.

The announcements of the various plans follow Friday's meteorite crash that caused devastation in Chelyabinsk, Russia. On the same day, a 150ft-diameter asteroid swept to within 17,000 miles of Earth.

The fact that the two events happened together has been dismissed as "a cosmic coincidence" by scientists. Nevertheless, astronomers – many gathered at the American Association for the Advancement of Science annual meeting in Boston this weekend – have been quick to reassure the public that they have plans to provide better warnings of future impacts.

"The hundreds of people injured in Russia show it is time to take action and no longer be passive about these events," said Rick Tumlinson, chairman of the US company Deep Space Industries. His company is preparing to launch a series of small spacecraft later this decade. These are aimed at surveying nearby asteroids to see if they can be mined for metals and ores.

However the fleet could also be used to monitor small, difficult-to-detect objects that threaten to strike Earth. Deep Space Industries – which is based in McLean, Virginia – proposes building 10 spacecraft at a cost of $100m (£65m) over the next four years, though it has not indicated who will fund missions.

The University of Hawaii has proposed a cheaper, simpler system known as Atlas – Advanced Terrestrial-Impact Last Alert System – to be constructed with the help of a $5m grant from Nasa. It will consist of a series of eight telescopes, each fitted with powerful cameras, to be built on Hawaiian islands whose clear air makes accurate observations particularly easy.

Astronomer Professor John Tonry, of Hawaii University, said Atlas – which is scheduled to begin operations in 2015 – would have an extremely high sensitivity, which he compared to the detection of a match flame in New York when viewed from San Francisco.

He said Atlas would give a one-week warning for a small asteroid – which he called "a city killer" – and three weeks for a larger "county killer". Tonry added: "That is enough time to evacuate the area, take measures to protect buildings and other infrastructure, and be alert to a tsunami danger generated by ocean impacts."CONTINUE READING: www.guardian.co.uk/science/2013/feb/16/scientists-earth-asteroid?CMP=twt_gu

"ROADS? WHERE WE'RE GOING, WE DON'T NEED ROADS." Dr. Emmett Brown to Marty McFly in BACK TO THE FUTURE 2

Editor's Note: Unexpectedly strong winds and clouds have forced the Virtual Telescope Project to cancel its live webcast of the asteroid 2013 ET today. The next chance to see the asteroid will be Saturday, March 9, in a 3:15 p.m. ET webcast by the Slooh Space Telescope as detailed in the original report below:

An asteroid the size of a city block is due to make a close pass by Earth on Saturday (March 9), and you can get a front-row view via two back-to-back webcasts.

The asteroid 2013 ET was discovered March 3 by the Catalina Sky Survey based at the University of Arizona. During the flyby, the space rock will fly within 2.5 times the moon's distance from Earth. On average, the moon is about 238,000 miles (about 383,000 kilometers) from Earth.

Asteroid 2013 ET is about 210 feet by 460 feet (64 meters by 140 m) in size, with some astronomers comparing its width to a football field. Its close approach to Earth comes just days after another space rock, the 33-foot (10 meters) asteroid 2013 EC, buzzed the Earth on Monday (March 4) at a range just inside the moon's orbit. [See a video of asteroid 2013 ET]

The first asteroid 2013 ET event will occur today in a free live webcast from the Virtual Telescope Project in Ceccano, Italy, starting at 2 p.m. EST (1900 GMT). You can watch the asteroid webcast on SPACE.com here.

"No matter how many asteroids approach us, even within a few days, the interest for these intriguing cosmic objects is always very high," Virtual Telescope founder Gianluca Masi, an astrophysicist, told SPACE.com. "I believe that these close approaches should be used to increase in the public a correct perception of the real situation, to avoid confusion and false alarms."

On Saturday (March 9), the online Slooh Space Telescope, which also offers stargazing events, will provide a free webcast of the asteroid from its observatory in the Canary Islands, off the coast of west Africa. The Slooh webcast will feature discussions by Slooh president Patrick Paolucci, Slooh engineer Paul Cox, and documentary filmmaker Duncan Copp. That show begins Saturday at 3:15 p.m. EST (2015 GMT).

"We only have a short viewing window of an hour or so from our Canary Islands observatory on March 9, but we wanted to give the general public a front row seat to witness this new asteroid in real time as it passes by Earth," Slooh president Patrick Paolucci said in a statement.

The Slooh webcast will also be carried on SPACE.com, and can be accessed directly at the Slooh Space Camera website. www.slooh.com/

Asteroid 2013 ET is not quite bright enough to view through small backyard telescopes or binoculars, but should be nicely visible in the footage from the online telescopes.

Post by auntym on Mar 10, 2013 12:50:38 GMT -6

An asteroid as big as a city block shot relatively close by the Earth on Saturday, the latest in a series of visiting celestial objects including an asteroid the size of a bus that exploded over Russia last month, injuring 1,500.

Discovered just six days ago, the 460-foot long (140-meter) Asteroid 2013 ET passed about 600,000 miles from Earth at 3:30 p.m. EST. That’s about 2-1/2 times as far as the moon, fairly close on a cosmic yardstick.

“The scary part of this one is that it’s something we didn’t even know about,” Patrick Paolucci, president of Slooh Space Camera, said during a webcast featuring live images of the asteroid from a telescope in the Canary Islands.

Moving at a speed of about 26,000 miles per hour, the asteroid could have wiped out a large city if it had impacted the Earth, added Slooh telescope engineer Paul Cox.

Asteroid 2013 ET is nearly eight times larger than the bus-sized asteroid that exploded over Chelyabinsk, Russia, on February 15. The force of the explosion, equivalent to about 440 kilotons of dynamite, created a shock wave that shattered windows and damaged buildings, injuring more than 1,5000 people.

Later that day, another small asteroid, known as DA14, passed about 17,200 miles from Earth, closer than the orbiting networks of communications and weather satellites.

“One of the reasons why we’re finding more of these objects is that there are more people looking,” Cox said.

Two other small asteroids, both about the size of the Russian meteor, will also be in Earth’s neighborhood this weekend. Asteroid 2013 EC 20 passed just 93,000 miles away on Saturday – “a stone’s thrown,” said Cox.

On Sunday, Asteroid 2013 EN 20 will fly about 279,000 miles from Earth. Both were discovered just three days ago. “We know that the solar system is a busy place,” said Cox.

“We’re not sitting here on our pale, blue dot on our own in nice safety … This should be a wakeup call to governments.”

NASA has been tasked by the U.S. Congress to find and track all near-Earth objects 0.62 miles or larger in diameter, and estimates about 95 percent have been identified.

However, only about 10 percent of smaller asteroids have been discovered, NASA scientists have said.

The effort is intended to give scientists and engineers as much time as possible to learn if an asteroid or comet is on a collision course with Earth, in hopes of sending up a spacecraft or taking other measures to avert catastrophe.

Post by skywalker on Jun 7, 2013 17:32:53 GMT -6

This one was discovered only yesterday (June 6) and will be flying past us tomorrow (June 8) and it's the size of a truck. Pretty darn close too for a big rock. I still think the number of these things is increasing. We must be flying through a large debris field or something which means there will probably be a lot more where this one came from. It's only a matter of time before one smacks into us. Maybe we're doomed.

Post by touched on Jun 8, 2013 17:17:50 GMT -6

I saw one during daylight hours while observing in Kingman ,Arizona back in about 1980. It was the only daytime meteor I've ever seen but it was beautiful as it left a particle trail behind it. I suspect it was a small asteroid because of it's fireball size and immensity. I was 12 or 13 years old and I was observing Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn with my small 50mm refractor scope. I knew where the planets were so I had the scope out that day watching them. When I looked up and away from the scope I saw it visually and clearly with my eyes as it broke up entering the atmosphere above the Hualapai mountain range. I'll never forget how beautiful it was !

Post by touched on Jun 8, 2013 17:59:07 GMT -6

I'd like to be able to observe this one but it's again a Southern hemisphere object and a very faint 16th magnitude at that. It's out of reach for my scope. Some amateurs down South could catch it if they have the right tracking and astrophotographic equipment.

Post by auntym on Jul 27, 2013 14:07:01 GMT -6

A notional concept of a solar-electric-powered spacecraft, designed to capture a small near-Earth asteroid and relocate it safely close to the moon system so astronauts can explore it.

SAN JOSE, Calif. — A NASA call for novel ideas on how to tackle its ambitious mission to capture an asteroid and park it near the moon has paid off in spades, with the agency receiving hundreds of proposals from potential partners.

NASA has received more than 400 proposals from private companies, non-profit groups and international organizations in response to a call for asteroid-retrieval mission suggestions released last month, agency officials announced Friday. The space agency will review the submissions over the next month and plans to discuss the most promising ideas in a public workshop in September.

NASA put out an official request for information on June 18 to seek input on how to achieve its asteroid retrieval mission. That asteroid capture plan, which NASA unveiled in April, is known as the agency's Asteroid Initiative. [How It Works: NASA Asteroid-Capture Mission in Pictures]

The NASA asteroid retrieval mission aims to send a robotic spacecraft out to a near-Earth asteroid, snare it with a "space lasso" and tow it back to a parking orbit near the moon so it can be explored by astronauts. The asteroid mission is NASA's way of pursuing the goal set by President Barack Obama that called on NASA to send a manned mission to a near-Earth asteroid by 2025, and then aim for a Mars flight in the 2030s.

On June 18, NASA also unveiled its Asteroid Grand Challenge, an effort to find and identify all of the asteroids that could pose a threat to Earth, as well as develop ideas to defend the planet against potential impacts. The effort is one of several national "grand challenges" announced by the Obama administration and other government agencies in recent weeks to spur scientific progress and innovation.

Post by auntym on Oct 19, 2013 14:42:56 GMT -6

WASHINGTON -- WASHINGTON (AP) — NASA says a big asteroid that whizzed by Earth last month unnoticed is probably nothing to worry about when it returns much closer in 19 years.

NASA Near-Earth Object program manager Donald Yeomans said there is a 1 in 48,000 chance that the 1,300-foot asteroid will hit Earth when it comes back on Aug. 26, 2032.

The asteroid called 2013 TV135 was discovered Oct. 8, nearly a month after it came within 4.2 million miles of Earth. Yeomans said as astronomers observe and track it better, they will likely calculate that it has no chance of hitting Earth.

Although big, the asteroid is considerably smaller than the type that caused the dinosaur extinction.

NASA posted a "reality check" about the asteroid in response to some media reports.

Post by touched on Oct 28, 2013 9:07:32 GMT -6

An Asteroid Will Pass Today (10-29-12) Between Earth and the Moon.

Potentially Hazardous Asteroids (PHAs) are space rocks larger than approximately 100m that can come closer to Earth than 0.05 AU. None of the known PHAs is on a collision course with our planet, although astronomers are finding new ones all the time.On October 28, 2013 there were 1435 potentially hazardous asteroids.Recent & Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters:2013 UV3

DATE....MISS DISTANCE...SIZEOct 29......0.7LD.......20m

Notes: LD means "Lunar Distance." 1 LD = 384,401 km, the distance between Earth and the Moon. 1 LD also equals 0.00256 AU. MAG is the visual magnitude of the asteroid on the date of closest approach.

Post by touched on Oct 29, 2013 5:12:44 GMT -6

How fast will this asteroid be traveling. Will it be seen through a telescope? How large is it in mile terms? Sounds pretty close to me Cliff.

At this time it (or any other asteroid that we know of so far) poses no threat to Earth.

As with many of these asteroids that pass close by Earth and other planets they get tugged and their orbits get altered because of gravities influence which causes changes with the way they come around next time years from now. Scientists are closely watching and recalculating these neo's.

With recent events in Russia last February, the world is starting to wake up to the reality that more needs to be done which is a good thing. More professional and amateur astronomers have joined programs (many of them volunteering their time)to hunt for these rocks (and minor planets).

These objects pass by us almost everyday. If I were to mention each one this thread would have several pages. I have just recently learned that there are far more than I had even imagined.

It's distance is about 3/4 between us and the moon which is close astronomically speaking, but still far away. As for the velocity or magnitude, I haven't looked it up. As for size without using the conversion formula and just estimating, I'd say somewhere around 60 ft. in diameter. But it's still early here and I haven't had my coffee yet.

Post by touched on Oct 29, 2013 9:12:08 GMT -6

NASA illustrates Earth's frightening chances of an asteroid collision

By Nathan Olivarez-Giles on August 13, 2013 07:58 pm @nateog

Earth is sitting in the path of more than 1,400 asteroids that could potentially cause significant damage, but according to NASA we likely won't see any of them smash violently into our planet anytime soon. In a chilling graphic of Earth sitting in a web of possible danger, NASA mapped out data it's collected on potentially hazardous asteroids (PHAs) that have intersecting orbital patterns with Earth and its neighboring planets. The PHAs that NASA has visualized, as a part of its Jet Propulsion Laboratory Photo-journal project, are "fairly large" and measure at least 460-feet wide. Each of these asteroids is traveling as what the agency described as "close" to Earth's orbit. Close, NASA says, is within 4.7 million miles — which thankfully means we've got a bit of breathing room.

"It's going to be OK — this century"

Another point of comfort: none of these asteroids are expected to collide with earth in the next 100 years, the agency says. So that means there is no immediate need to plan for doomsday, or even a light show along the lines of the annual Perseid meteor shower seen a few days ago. Also in the predicted cross hairs of said PHAs are Mars, Mercury, Venus, Jupiter, and the Sun.

Post by auntym on Nov 10, 2013 12:53:40 GMT -6

The unusual object has been compared to a "rotating lawn sprinkler" and has led astronomers to develop a new theory of how asteroids 'die'

Nasa astronomers have announced the discovery of a “weird and freakish object” by the Hubble telescope - the first ever six-tailed asteroid, found spinning through space between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter.

"We were literally dumbfounded when we saw it," said David Jewitt, lead investigator on the project and professor at the University of California. "Even more amazing, its tail structures change dramatically in just 13 days as it belches out dust. That also caught us by surprise. It's hard to believe we're looking at an asteroid."

Whilst comets are well-known for their tails -trails of vaporized dust and water, thrown off from the ice-coated objects as they pass through solar winds - rocky-bodied asteroids do not produce any trace and previously only been spotted as single points of light.

Although the astronomers do not have a clear answer of why the object, designated P/2013 P5, has six-tails, they have speculated that its rate of rotation may have reached the point where it starts disintegrating.

What could have caused P/2013 P5 to begin spinning so violently is also unknown. Impact with another asteroid has been ruled out, as this event would have created a large amount of dust from the impact.

It was first spotted as “unusually fuzzy-looking object” by the Pan-STARRS survey telescope in Hawaii and on further investigation its multiple tails were identified by images from the Hubble space telescope on 10 September.

However, when Hubble took a second look on 23 September they found its appearance had changed. “We were completely knocked out," said Jewitt.

Images from the Hubble telescope on the 10th and 23rd of September, showing how the tails of the asteroid have spun "like a rotating lawn sprinkler." Image credit: Hubble.

Post by Steve on Nov 10, 2013 16:12:01 GMT -6

“We are not now that strength which in old days moved earth and heaven; that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts, made weak by time and fate, but strong in will. To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.”
From ‘Ulysses’ by Alfred, Lord Tennyson

"We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them." - Albert Einstein

The unusual object has been compared to a "rotating lawn sprinkler" and has led astronomers to develop a new theory of how asteroids 'die'

Nasa astronomers have announced the discovery of a “weird and freakish object” by the Hubble telescope - the first ever six-tailed asteroid, found spinning through space between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter.

"We were literally dumbfounded when we saw it," said David Jewitt, lead investigator on the project and professor at the University of California. "Even more amazing, its tail structures change dramatically in just 13 days as it belches out dust. That also caught us by surprise. It's hard to believe we're looking at an asteroid."

Whilst comets are well-known for their tails -trails of vaporized dust and water, thrown off from the ice-coated objects as they pass through solar winds - rocky-bodied asteroids do not produce any trace and previously only been spotted as single points of light.

Although the astronomers do not have a clear answer of why the object, designated P/2013 P5, has six-tails, they have speculated that its rate of rotation may have reached the point where it starts disintegrating.

What could have caused P/2013 P5 to begin spinning so violently is also unknown. Impact with another asteroid has been ruled out, as this event would have created a large amount of dust from the impact.

It was first spotted as “unusually fuzzy-looking object” by the Pan-STARRS survey telescope in Hawaii and on further investigation its multiple tails were identified by images from the Hubble space telescope on 10 September.

However, when Hubble took a second look on 23 September they found its appearance had changed. “We were completely knocked out," said Jewitt.

Images from the Hubble telescope on the 10th and 23rd of September, showing how the tails of the asteroid have spun "like a rotating lawn sprinkler." Image credit: Hubble.

“We are not now that strength which in old days moved earth and heaven; that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts, made weak by time and fate, but strong in will. To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.”
From ‘Ulysses’ by Alfred, Lord Tennyson

"We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them." - Albert Einstein

Post by touched on Nov 13, 2013 4:21:45 GMT -6

Two surprisingly large Near-Earth Asteroids have been discovered in just the last week or so, as well as a third moderately large asteroid which surprisingly has also gone undetected until now, even though it can pass close enough to the Earth to be classified as "potentially hazardous". Not since 1983 has any near-Earth asteroid been found as large as the approximately 20-kilometer (12-mile) size of the two new large ones. In fact, there are only three other known near-Earth asteroids that are of comparable size or larger than the two new large ones.

It is important to note that none of these three new large near-Earth asteroids can come close enough to the Earth to represent a near-term threat to our planet.

The first of the new large near-Earth asteroid discoveries is named 2013 UQ4, and it is perhaps the most unusual. This approximately 19-kilometer (12-mile) wide object was spotted by the Catalina Sky Survey on Oct. 23 when the asteroid was 435 million kilometers (270 million miles) away from Earth. Not only is this object unusually large, it follows a very unusual highly inclined, retrograde orbit about the Sun, which means it travels around the Sun in the opposite direction of all the planets and the vast majority of asteroids.

The only objects usually found in retrograde orbits are comets, which suggests that 2013 UQ4 may be the remains of an old comet that no longer possesses the near-surface ices required for it to become active while near the Sun. Comets that have exhausted most, or all, of their volatile ices do not spew dust during sweeps through the inner-solar system like their less-seasoned, more hyperactive space kin. Without the telltale comet tails or atmospheres, dead comets look like, and in fact for all practical purposes are, asteroids.

As reported on Circular No. 9262 of the International Astronomical Union, MIT's Richard Binzel, David Polishook and Rachel Bowens-Rubin observed this object on October 31 with NASA's 3-meter Infrared Telescope Facility in Hawaii and determined this object belongs to the so-called X-type spectral class and exhibits no obvious comet-like activity. This implies about a 4 percent reflectivity, from which they estimate a diameter of approximately 19 kilometers (12 miles).

The second very large near-Earth object, named 2013 US10, was discovered on October 31 by the Catalina Sky Survey. While the reflectivity of this object has not yet been determined, and hence its diameter is still uncertain, it is also likely to be about 20 kilometers (12 miles) in size. Only three near-Earth asteroids (1036 Ganymed, 433 Eros and 3552 Don Quixote) are of comparable size or larger.

Why has it taken so long to discover these large near-Earth asteroids? The delay in discovering 2013 UQ4 is more easily understood because it has a very long orbital period that has kept it out of the Earth's neighborhood for centuries. But the delayed discovery of 2013 US10 is a bit harder to explain, since current population models suggest that almost all near-Earth asteroids of this size and orbit should have already been found. A contributing factor may be that this object's orbit does not allow it to get closer than 80 million kilometers (50 million miles) of the Earth's orbit, so the asteroid seldom gets close enough to the Earth to become easily detectable. However, NASA-supported telescopic surveys are now covering more sky and looking "deeper" than they ever have before, and in fact, 2013 US10 was first detected where it spends much of its time, well beyond the orbit of Jupiter.

The third of the recent discoveries is the approximately two-kilometer near-Earth asteroid 2013 UP8, found on October 25 by the Pan-STARRS group in Hawaii. This asteroid can approach quite close to the Earth's orbit, within 5.5 million kilometers (3.4 million miles), which makes it a "potentially hazardous asteroid" (PHA). 2013 UP8 is in the top 5th percentile of the largest PHAs, most of which were found much earlier during NASA's asteroid survey program. Like the other new discoveries, this asteroid has gone undetected for a long time because it has not approached the Earth closely for decades. But the increasingly capable NASA-supported asteroid surveys finally found this object while it was still at a large distance from the Earth, well beyond the orbit of Mars.

Post by touched on Nov 28, 2013 7:44:40 GMT -6

I believe I mentioned seeing a daylight fireball over Kingman, Az. While observing planets during the day when I was about 12 years old. Here is another daylight fireball that was recorded over Utah in 1972. Some call this "the Great Teton event". :

Post by auntym on Feb 18, 2014 15:15:21 GMT -6

AFP Photo / Image copyright Mark A. Garlick, space-art.co.uk, The University of Warwick and The University of Cambridge

A massive asteroid is scheduled to make its way past Earth Monday night. Scientists advise it will not make contact with our planet, while amateur astronomers will be able to watch its flight online.

The space-rock known officially as 2000 EM26 passed over Earth Monday night at 02:00 GMT February 18 (21:00 EST). Scientists estimated that it was 270 meters (885 feet) in diameter, roughly equivalent to three football fields, and soared through the stars at a whopping 12.37 km/s (27,000 mph).

At its closest point, the asteroid was approximately 8.8 lunar distances from the Earth’s surface. One lunar distance is roughly 383,022.92 kilometers (238,000 miles), meaning asteroid 2000 EM26 was a mere 3,370,601.696 kilometers (2,094,400 miles) away.

“We continue to discover these potentially hazardous asteroids – sometimes only days before they make their close approaches to Earth,” wrote Slooh’s technical and researcher Paul Cox in a statement Monday. “Slooh’s asteroid research campaign is gathering momentum with Slooh members using the Slooh robotic telescopes to monitor this huge population of potentially hazardous space rocks. We need to find them before they find us!”

Coincidentally, the fly-by comes almost one year to the day after a much smaller asteroid exploded in the sky above Chelyabinsk, Russia. The 65-foot rock exploded 18 miles above the ground, but Slooh officials said the energy released was equivalent to 20 atom bomb explosions. The concussion alone was enough to damage thousands of buildings and leave more than 1,000 injured by broken glass.

Another astrological event from 1908 lives on in myth as much as it does in science books. What is thought to have been an asteroid or comet exploded in the air above the Podkamennaya Tunguska River near what is now Krasnoyarsk Krai in the Siberian region of Russia.

The blast is classified as the largest impact event on or near Earth in recorded history and its mysterious cause has partly contributed to the massive number of research papers, over 1,000, to focus on the event.

“On a practical level, previously-unknown, undiscovered asteroid seems to hit our planet and cause damage or injury once a century or so, as we witnessed on June 20, 1908 and February 15, 2013,” astronomer Bob Berman told Slooh.

“Every few centuries, an even more massive asteroid strikes us – fortunately usually impacting in an ocean or wasteland such as Antarctica. But the ongoing threat, and the fact that biosphere-altering events remain a real if small annual possibility, suggests that discovering and tracking all [near Earth objects], as well as setting up contingency plans for deflecting them on short notice should the need arise, would be a wise use of resources.”

A sizable asteroid measuring 270m across that was due to pass by the Earth seems to have disappeared.

The space rock dubbed 2000 EM26 was set to pass by us within a distance of 3.4 million kilometers, but when astronomers directed their telescopes to get a good look at it the asteroid seemed to have mysteriously vanished and was nowhere to be seen.

The object has since been nicknamed 'Moby Dick' after the infamous white whale in the story by author Herman Melville. Astronomers are not unduly concerned as the asteroid is not believed to pose a threat to the Earth however its disappearance has helped emphasize how limited out current asteroid tracking capabilities actually are.

The most likely explanation at present is that the asteroid's trajectory is different to that predicted by astronomers and everyone has simply been looking for it in the wrong place.

"It's a major chore figuring out how to reacquire asteroids," said Michael Paolucci, CEO of the robotic telescope service Slooh. "It's almost like discovering them all over again."

Post by auntym on Feb 20, 2014 12:59:23 GMT -6

Guys, We Lost an Asteroid the Size of Three Football Fields. Feeling Super Secure Right Now

They're calling it Moby Dick now. I'm hoping they just don't know how that book ends.

By Dan Van Winkle

Don’t worry, you’re not going to get hit by asteroid 2000 EM26. Still, it’s a little unsettling that it was supposed to fly by last night, and no one has any idea where it is. The universe is a big place, and it’s far more likely to be found farther away from us than closer, but it’s a little disconcerting that we were so wrong about its trajectory.

Slooh Community Observatory held a talk about asteroid tracking and a live viewing as the massive asteroid was set to fly by the Earth at somewhere around 8.8 lunar distances yesterday, so it was probably pretty embarrassing when the asteroid didn’t show up to its own party. You can still watch the live coverage and asteroid discussion here:

Its magnitude should have been 15.4, which would have left it easily visible to telescopes, so it’s unlikely that we just missed it. More likely, unfortunately, is that we didn’t have enough information about the asteroid, which was only seen for a period of nine days 14 years ago, to accurately predict its trajectory. Luckily, 8.8 lunar distances isn’t that far in astronomical terms, but for an object that’s only about 300 yards across, it leaves plenty of room for error.

Of course, that doesn’t mean we can just let it go completely, and Slooh has called upon amateur astronomers to join the search and try to find it, which instills me with confidence. Generally, when you lose something, you should try to look in the last place you remember having it, but when that place is space, it’s a little less helpful.

In its own way, 2000 EM26 did a pretty bang up job of highlighting the need to continue and expand our observations of asteroids, so at least the point of Slooh’s coverage still hit home. The Slooh Observatory Director, Captain Ahab Paul Cox, said:

Discovering these Near Earth Objects isn’t enough. As we’ve seen with 2000 EM26, all the effort that went into its discovery is worthless unless follow­up observations are made to accurately determine their orbits for the future. And that’s exactly what Slooh members are doing, using the robotic telescopes at our world­-class observatory site to accurately measure the precise positions of these asteroids and comets.

Post by auntym on Feb 22, 2014 15:23:24 GMT -6

ESA Euronews: Accidents and Asteroids

European Space Agency, ESA European Space Agency, ESA

Published on Feb 21, 2014

How real is the threat of an asteroid hitting Earth, and is there anything we can do to prevent it from happening? Asteroid impacts are nothing new. Only last year, one exploded over the city of Chelyabinsk in Russia injuring 1500 people and damaging some 7,000 buildings.

"It was a pretty nasty event, luckily nobody was killed, but it just shows the sort of force that these things have," says Alan Harris, Senior Scientist, DLR Institute of Planetary Research Berlin.

While there was surprise nobody saw it coming, the asteroid itself wasn't that big, measuring no more than 20 metres across. It was tricky to spot, arriving into Earth's atmosphere backlit by the Sun.

In fact, much bigger threats lurk out in space. Just a few days ago another asteroid 270 metres wide passed near Earth. That kind of object could cause much more damage.

"Something with the size of a hundred metres for instance, which still isn't very big, you're talking about something that would fit into a football field, and that could actually completely destroy an urban area in the worst case. So those are the things that we're really looking out for, and that we're trying to find ways to tackle," says Harris.

Action to address the asteroid threat is already underway. Earlier in February, space scientists and policy experts from all the major space-faring nations held talks to create a framework for action.

Post by auntym on Mar 7, 2014 14:23:41 GMT -6

Astronomers have watched baffled as a mysterious force breaks up an asteroid in deep space.

Asteroid P/2013 R3, which is located in the Solar System's main asteroid belt, broke up between 29 October 2013 and 14 January 2014.

The images of the collapse were captured by the Hubble Space Telescope, and look just like a comet when it breaks up on approach to the Sun.

The strange thing is that in this case there is no apparent reason why the asteroid has broken up.

The European Space Agency has said that nothing like it "has ever been observed before".

"This is a rock. Seeing it fall apart before our eyes is pretty amazing," said David Jewitt of UCLA.

Whatever is happening to the asteroid, it's pretty dramatic. Each of the four largest pieces are 200 metres wide each, and are slowly falling away from each other at about 1.5 km/hour.

ESA thinks there could be a number of causes - though all are just theories. It's possible that another asteroid hit it - though if that were try the pieces would be flying away from each other much more quickly.

spotless38: Iam back after a long break . What a couple of years I had . After what had happened I lost my brother and had to bury him and then I had caught that type A flue and I was a very sick puppy I also needed blood for the loss of it .Jul 7, 2018 13:30:41 GMT -6

lois: Very Happy to see you Ron. Missed you. Glad you are doing better now. Sorry for your lost. I did not know your brother had passed. hugs loisJul 10, 2018 0:52:45 GMT -6

lois: I picked up my phone a few days ago and I looked at the name of the caller. Boy was I surprise. It has been a couple of years. So good to hear your voice Ron. Hope you make it a habit again. love and hugs .Aug 15, 2018 23:21:38 GMT -6

leia77: Spotless, I am glad that you are feeling better and welcome back! I too am back from a long time away...Aug 31, 2018 2:08:32 GMT -6

jcurio: I am much relieved to see that you have been on here, Spotless! I hope that things are going much better for you now Sept 19, 2018 16:46:42 GMT -6